pearson



NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARK R. PEARSON, OF GEORGETOWN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO MARK` R. PEARSON AND SAMUEL SHAV.

RLLER-CATCH FOR SELF-ACTING MULES.

Specication of Letters Patent No. 11,850, dated October 24, 1854.

T 0 all whom t may concern Be it known that I, MARK R. PEARsoN, of Georgetown, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new or Improved Roller-Catch to be Used on a Self-Acting Mule; and I hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, letters, figures, and references thereof.

Of the' said drawings Figure l, denotes a sectional elevation of my inproved catch as applied to the roller of a driving shaft of the shaft of the delivery rollers of a self acting mule. Fig. 2, represents an end view of the same, the catch in such figure being shown as thrown out of action with respect to the teeth of its ratchet wheel. Fig. 3, exhibits it as thrown into action with said ratchet.

In the said drawings, A, represents the driving shaft by which the shaft, B, of the delivery rollers of the mule is operated, the one shaft being applied to the other in the usual way, that is to say the shaft, A, carries at or near one end of it a disk wheel or roller, C, which is fixed firmly to the shaft so as to rotate with it.

One end of the shaft, B, abuts against the inner surface of the plate, C, or may be inserted and made to run freely in the adjacent end of the shaft A. The shaft, B, carries a ratchet wheel D; it is placed and turns freely upon it.

The hub, E, of the ratchet wheel, D, has a couple of pins 0r studs. f, f, projected in opposite directions from 1t and respectively extended into slots g, g, formed in the hub, E, the said slots and pins, f, f, serving to limit the extent of rotary movement of the ratchet wheel, D, on its shaft, B, which movement is for the purpose of compensating for what is termed the back-lash of the gearing or other part of the mule. This mode of applying the ratchet, D, to its shaft, B, is in common use.

The inner surface of the roller or disk wheel C, has usually four pawls or catches applied to it and made to act against the teeth of the ratchet wheel. 'Ihey however, from various causes well known to spinners are occasionally liable to miss their hold on the ratchet teeth, and when this takes place a breakage of more or less of the threads that are in the course of being spun must of necessity follow as under such circumstances, the motions of the delivery rollers, are arrested. The peculair purpose of my improved catch is therefore the same as that of the catches heretofore used, that is, it stops the motions of the delivery rollers when the mule carriage is running in or toward them, and it also causes them to be put in motion when the said mule carriage is being run outward. My said catch is shown at, H, in the drawings. It is applied to the wheel, C, so as to turn freely in a pin I, made to project from it, and it is so formed and placed in regard to the ratchet, D, as seen in the drawings. It has an arm, K, extended downward from it and made to carry, (in a socket M) a friction button, L. The said friction button or brake being pressed forward against the side of the ratchet, D, by means of a spring, N, introduced into the socket, M, as seen in Fig. l. Now when the driving shaft A, is rotated in one direction, the friction of the brake, L, against the side of the wheel, D, acting through the arm, K, will throw the catch, H, down in between the teeth of the ratchet wheel, but when the shaft is rotated in the opposite direction, the said friction brake, L, and the arm, K, produce a reverse motion of the catch, H, throwing it out of engagement with the ratchet, D, and this when the mule carriage is running in.

The spring brake not only performs the function of insuring the fall of the catch into the teeth of the ratchet, but it also accomplishes that of the spring which has been heretofore applied to the side of the ratchet, and for the purpose of moving the ratchet backward a distance which the pin slot, G, allows it to be moved whenever a change of motion of the mule carriage takes place or it commences to turn inward toward the delivery rollers.

In the drawings, I have exhibited some of the mechanism of the mule that is immediately connected with the shafts, A, and, B. 'Ihis mechanism is not however to be understood as constituting any part of my invention, but is such as is used on the well known self acting mule.

My improved catch has a positive action; it always performs its duty without any of that danger of missing it, or not performing it, which occasionally happens to the ordinary roller catch.

What I claim as my invention isi mysignature this second day of May, A. D. The combining With the catch, H, and 1854. the ratchet D the arm K and its friction i brake 0r the equivalent therefor, the Same MARK R' PEARSON 5 being made to operate substantially as- Witnesses:

specified. R. H. EDDY,

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set F. P. HALE, J r. 

